"Living Off Delusions Of VictimizationMay 3, 2012: Islamic terrorism remains a threat in India, although a declining one. This is just as well, because India is a federation of 28 states and the states resist interference by the central government. This has caused problems with establishing nationwide standards for counter-terrorism efforts. Meanwhile, Mumbai remains a bitter memory that just won't fade. The Pakistan-sponsored 2008 attack not only killed nearly 200 people, but poisoned relations with Pakistan (which still refuses to prosecute the organizations in Pakistan responsible for planning and supervising the attack. Worse, Mumbai has long been a target for Islamic terrorists. In the last 12 years, 458 have died in Mumbai from terrorism. The states don't trust the central government (partly because of the rampant corruption) and prefer to go off on their own. This leads to widely varying effectiveness when it comes to counter-terror efforts. Fortunately, Islamic terrorism has declined, among Moslems, in popularity over the last decade. In Pakistan, for example, less than 20 percent of the population approve of al Qaeda, although local terror groups that attack India are more popular. But not in India, where the local Moslems (who outnumber Moslems in Pakistan) have largely declined to be radicalized.

But there are still pockets of radicalism. Although India has crushed the Pakistan based terrorist operatives in Kashmir, two decades of these groups operating in Kashmir has infected a generation of young men with Islamic radicalism. Although these terrorism enthusiasts now have great difficulty getting support from Pakistan, a few still have an urge to kill and maim, and do that with what few weapons they can scrounge. Most Kashmiris are hostile to their local militants, because the economy is beginning to revive. The foundation of prosperity in Kashmir is tourism, especially from other parts of India. Too much Islamic radicalism and the tourists will stay away and everyone will suffer. Thus the local Islamic radicals have to fear their fellow Moslems, as well as the security forces.

The Indian war against its Maoist rebels is not going well. The Maoists are a presence in about a quarter of the country. These are mostly rural areas in the east. Increasing police pressure (including dozens of paramilitary battalions) has resulted in the Maoists becoming more ruthless and savage. The police often respond in kind and civilians are caught in the crossfire. This fighting is likely to on for years, possibly until the end of the decade.

Meanwhile, Pakistan remains a much more violent place, with more than 30 times more people killed (per capita) than in India. There are regularly 5-10 times more terrorist deaths each month in Pakistan, a nation with a sixth of the population of India.

A year after the American raid into Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden, and captured thousands of al Qaeda documents, it appears that those documents did not identify specific Pakistani officials who helped hide bin Laden. It appears that bin Laden took advantage of the corruption in Pakistan, along with the "Pushtun Mafia" (tribal gangsters much feared in lowland Punjab and Sind provinces, where most Pakistanis live) to set up his hideout in the military city of Abbottabad and evade detection for all those years.

At the same time, Pakistan continues to claim it knew nothing of bin Laden's location and that the intelligence sharing agreement with the United States provided important information leading to locating bin Laden. Pakistanis also point out that Islamic radicals went to war with Pakistan after Pakistan sided with the U.S. in the War on Terror, and sent death squads after national and local leaders. But Pakistan continues to ignore the very real fact that Pakistan continues to provide support and sanctuary for Islamic terror groups that have carried out major terror attacks in India. This effort is controlled by powerful factions in the military and intelligence services. The military also sponsors the decades old propaganda campaign that paints India and the West as obsessed with destroying Pakistan and Islam. The truth of the matter is that India (increasingly) and the West (always) ignore Pakistan, considering it a failed state that only get any attention because of its proclivity for murderous mischief. This view is unacceptable within Pakistan, where illusions of power and glory are worshipped. Anyone who says otherwise is punished, driven out of the country or killed.

One area where Pakistan is a major player is in Afghanistan, which Pakistan considers within its sphere of influence. That is, other nations must consult with Pakistan before doing anything significant in or with Afghanistan. The Afghans are not happy with this attitude, or the harmful Pakistan interference that has taken place over the last three decade.

The U.S. and Pakistan remain stalemated over the resumption of truck traffic from Pakistan to Afghanistan, and Pakistan refusing to attack Islamic terrorists in North Waziristan (North Waziristan) or Quetta (Baluchistan). These two places have become the most dangerous terrorist sanctuaries on the planet, but the Pakistani government refuses to shut them down. India also wants Islamic terror camps (run by groups specializing in attacks on India) in other parts of Pakistan eliminated. Again, Pakistan defies the world and refuses to act against the terrorists. The United States has shifted to a supply line to Central Asia, and continues UAV attacks in North Waziristan, which the Pakistanis consider illegal. The U.S. has respected the Pakistani prohibition of UAV attacks in Quetta, despite repeated requests for permission to go after the Afghan Taliban leadership based there, along with many mid-level Taliban leaders. The U.S. could just go ahead and start hitting targets in Quetta, and the Pakistanis could escalate by attacking the UAVs with missiles or F-16 fighters. But this could quickly escalate, and the Americans can do more damage to Pakistan than the other way around. The Pakistani leadership understands this. They also understand that their steadfast support for Islamic terrorists has made them an international pariah (except in Moslem states, where killing non-Moslems is still considered acceptable behavior, no matter what the rest of the world thinks.)

In Pakistan, self-delusion is a popular activity. For example, in Abbottabad, civilians will insist that bin Laden never lived there and that the American raid was all theater staged by the Americans to try and make Pakistan look bad. This attitude is not unusual in Pakistan, where delusions of victimization trump taking responsibility for your actions.

In northwest Pakistan, two Taliban bombs, meant for pro-government tribal elders, went off and left five dead."

I simply believe he is a waste of US dollars already. If a person cannot stomach the punishment for their own activities why should a safety net be provided for them? Seems to me the more of these "great" people that come to the states, the fewer are available to make positive change in their homeland.

What happens if he comes here? I already know. We give him money, housing etc All from the taxpayer's pocket.

In a lawsuit against three Indiana government officials, a labor union alleged on Wednesday that its constitutional rights under the Thirteenth Amendment -- which outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude — are violated whenever its members are forced to work alongside nonunion employees.

The International Union of Operating Engineers, whose members work as heavy equipment operators, mechanics and construction surveyors, sued Indiana’s governor, attorney general, and labor commissioner in February, alleging that the state’s “right to work” law is unconstitutional.

Indiana’s law prohibits employers from making union membership a condition of getting or keeping a job. The union’s February lawsuit claimed the law violated its members’ Fourteenth Amendment guarantee of “equal protection” under the law.

But an amended complaint filed on Wednesday added a Thirteenth Amendment claim as well. The new lawsuit suggests that when nonunion employees earn higher salaries and better benefits because of the union’s negotiation on behalf of its members, the union has been forced to work for those nonunion employees for free.

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment benefits fell to its lowest level in a month last week, a hopeful sign for a labor market that has shown signs of weakening. Initial jobless claims dropped by 27,000 to a seasonally adjusted 365,000 in the week ended April 28, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast 378,000 new claims. It was the biggest fall since May 2011 and follows three weeks of disappointingly high readings.

The prior week's claims were revised to 392,000--the highest since late November--from the initially reported 388,000.

The four-week moving average of claims, which smoothes out week-to-week volatility, increased by 750 to 383,500.

After a strong start to the year, the U.S. economy has been flashing mixed signals. Interpreting the data has been complicated by an unseasonably warm winter. In March, U.S. employers added 120,000 nonfarm jobs, half of what they added in February. The Labor Department releases April's payroll numbers Friday--analysts forecast the addition of 168,000 jobs and a steady unemployment rate at 8.2%. The Federal Reserve, charged with maintaining price stability and achieving maximum employment, last week forecast that the unemployment would fall to somewhere between 7.8% and 8.0% by the end of this year, and 7.3% to 7.7% next year. If the labor market doesn't improve, the Fed could reconsider measures to stimulate the economy. "If unemployment looks like it's no longer making progress, that will be an important consideration in thinking about policy options," Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said last week. Thursday's report showed the number of continuing unemployment benefit claims--those drawn by workers for more than a week--decreased by 53,000 to 3,276,000 in the week ended April 21. Continuing claims are reported with a one-week lag. The unemployment rate for workers with unemployment insurance for the week ended April 21 was unchanged at 2.6%. A Labor Department economist said there was nothing unusual in the latest data. The Labor Department report on jobless claims can be accessed at: dol.gov.

Boehner Protects Eric Holder From Contempt Of Congress Citation…Again May 1, 2012 By Doug Book

Three months ago, conservatives were jubilant over reports that Congressman Darrell Issa would offer a Contempt of Congress complaint against Eric Holder. After all, the Attorney General had openly refused to honor House Oversight Committee subpoenas for an estimated 80,000 documents vital to the Committee’s investigation of the role played by members of the Obama Regime in Operation Fast and Furious.

Holder spent nearly a year lying to Congressional committees and making clear he had no intention of honoring legal subpoenas. His Assistant Attorney General Ron Weich had written a February 4th, 2011 letter to Congress claiming that the criminal walking of more than 2000 firearms across the Mexican border had never happened. It was that letter which would have the distinction of being the first ever Department of Justice communication to Congress which had to be withdrawn by its sender, due to certain “inaccuracies.”

Yet deadlines set by Issa and Senator Charles Grassley for the production of subpoenaed documents have systematically been ignored by this corrupt Attorney General with no substantial response by congressional Republicans.

Last week, CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson, who has reported ferociously on Regime Fast and Furious felonies and misdemeanors since its inception, wrote of another contempt citation being prepared by Darrell Issa. Attkisson discovered a 48 page draft had been provided House Speaker John Boehner, undoubtedly complete with Holder’s every lie, diversion and refusal to comply with House subpoenas.

Were Republican leaders to issue the go-ahead to Darrell Issa and actively persuade any recalcitrant (that is, weak-kneed) GOP members of the House to cooperate, the passage of a contempt citation could provide the American people a long-awaited view of Eric Holder being frog-marched to the well of the House, under arrest by the Sergeant at Arms. And reports of the Obama Regime’s assault on the 2ndAmendment rights of the American people would finally shatter the full-fledged, 18 month Fast and Furious media blockade.

But here is the latest word from a Republican spokesman: “While there are very legitimate arguments to be made in favor of such an action, no decision has been made to move forward with one by the Speaker or by House Republican leaders.”

Three months ago, it was reported that John Boehner would sell out to Eric Holder and the Democrat Party by making an under the table deal with the Attorney General for the Fast and Furious generated scalps of a few DOJ underlings. Of course, Barack Obama and Eric Holder would in return be exonerated. Unfortunately, if a nationwide account of this contemplated betrayal worked to stop Speaker Boehner in his tracks, it certainly didn’t seem to provide incentive for a more courageous tack.

In 1821, the Supreme Court ruled that Congress must have the power to issue citations of contempt in order to “…not [be] exposed to every indignity and interruption that rudeness, caprice, or even conspiracy may mediate against it.”

Yet although proof of his decades of criminal wrongdoing abounds, Republican leaders are frightened to death at the thought of holding Eric Holder to account. And he is in return piling successive rounds of indignity upon the House of Representatives via the deadly Obama Regime conspiracy of Operation Fast and Furious.